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Camping Light

About: I need more space for my projects, my garage is packed. I like to make things, I've always got a project on the go.
More About tom_sanremo »

A quick and easy camping light that uses very little power, about 6A at 12V. It throws out a good omni directional light which when it is placed on a spare tent pole or star picket can be very handy when setting up camp after dark.

I can't claim that this is my idea so here is a shout out to Chris for putting me onto it.

Step 1: What You'll Need and How to Get It Done.

Ingredients:

3x 5m rolls of self adhesive weatherproof LED strip light

1m of 50mm DWV PVC pipe and end cap

a few metres of 2 core wire and a lighter plug

solder, pipe glue, tape and other consumables

(optional extra, you can run a switch and split the loom so you can have a high and low beam)

Be careful as with all DIY projects there are possibilities for things to cause harm so please employ all appropriate safety precautions and PPE.

How To Get It Done:

Glue the end cap on the pipe and mark 6 points equally around the cap.

Cut the 5m lengths of light strip in half.

Starting on the marks wrap the light strip around the pipe in a tight spiral arrangement (I found putting a bit of clear tape around the ends works well to keep it from coming loose.

Once you have all the pre-terminated ends of the light strips together at the open end of the pipe, split them up and parallel them all together with the 2 core wire you are going to solder the plug onto the end of. I at this point soldered the wires together and then insulated them with tape.

Tie the power cable around the pipe for strain relief and then tape over the knot and the solder joins.

If my instructions aren't clear enough I recorded making this and have uploaded to youtube, feel free to have a look at the video if my instructions are difficult to follow.

That's It plug it into your 12v supply and see how it went.

Thanks for taking a look at my instructable, hopefully it wasn't too hard to follow.